Forgotten Sacrament

It is both ironic and tragic that due to the fact that most of us were baptized as infants, very few Catholic Christians reflect on the significance and importance of this sacrament for us.
It is very important to remember a central truth of the baptismal ritual that is obscured by the fact that we rarely baptize a person, adult or infant, by full immersion, that is, by placing the person completely under water. The purpose of full immersion is to remind the person being baptized, and those participating in the celebration of the sacrament, that in baptism we die with Jesus Christ and then rise with him to newness of life. If you have ever found yourself suddenly plunged into water and are unable to breathe, you know the great relief you feel when you emerge from that water and can breathe again. This is what the baptismal experience is intended to evoke – a temporary death that yields to an experience of new life. The challenge for us as Christians is to embrace the new life we have received in baptism and not lose that life through patterns of behavior that are contrary to the life of Christ in which we now share.
This is why the sacrament of reconciliation is so important and why it is sad that it is so neglected! Through the sacrament of reconciliation (confession), we have the opportunity to look at our lives and see where we are living in a way that is not faithful to the life of Christ. It is particularly important in confession to focus on recurring sins- patterns of behavior where we struggle to bring our lives into conformity with what Christ expects of us. These are the sins that most merit our attention because these are the sins that impede our ability to grow in our participation in the life of Christ. It is by the grace of the sacrament of reconciliation that we are continually renewed in the life that we first received in baptism so that we can be confident of one day enjoying the fullness of that life forever.
Don’t forget the importance of your baptism! Remind yourself of its importance through a habit of frequently seeking the grace of the sacrament of reconciliation (confession).
Fr. Mark Hallinan, S.J.